How high can you go

[Sno]

Eucalyptus parvifolia . It’s been growing in this nursery flat for probably 5 or more years and hasn’t really done much in that time thickening wise . I trunk chopped it a couple of years ago and then let it go . Today I have been cleaning up my bonsai area (it’s out of control ) . This tree’s time has come and before I chop it again it needs a photo . I am going to chop it down by about half for now and then pot it up into a garden sieve . It s interesting that it reached about 2.5 m without much gain in the lower trunk .

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[melbrackstone]

Good luck with it! The flat was clearly not stored on the ground, or do you have something impervious under it? I have way too many trees that have been on the soil, that I *meant* to get to, that have all grown out of the pots and into the soil.

[Sno]

Good luck with it! The flat was clearly not stored on the ground, or do you have something impervious under it? I have way too many trees that have been on the soil, that I *meant* to get to, that have all grown out of the pots and into the soil.

I was growing it on a tile that was sitting on top of a gravel bed . I did have intentions of putting it straight onto the gravel bed last spring and letting it ‘ escape ‘ but didn’t get around to it . Over winter I don’t let anything grow into the gravel beds because they freeze solid . I have lost a couple of trees from doing that .

[melbrackstone]

Ahh, well that makes sense about not wanting them to freeze. Never going to have that problem here! Ta
I need to get some tiles.

[Rory]

Good to see You haven’t put on a lot of taper Sno. Must be the cool climate keeping you fit.

I’ve lost quite a few Eucs over my time from letting them grow deep in the ground and then cutting the tap roots, only to discover most of the pot roots had deteriorated over time in preference to putting all energy into the ground roots.

Eucs in particular seem to be the worst in terms of survival from growing this way. I’m not saying they all died, I’m just saying that I lost more from this than any other genus that I pot/ground grew.

Also I have the same observation that most of the Eucs will not put on a lot of taper or girth at the base when grown in containers. You really have to trunk chop a lot if you want thick bases with these. I suppose, looking at the majority of them in the wild, their ratio of tree height to base diameter is naturally very high for Eucs anyway. So no suprises there. The Mallee types and multi trunk based varieties are better suited to developing more taper if that’s what someone wants. But I quite like the look of tall Euc bonsai with not much taper.

But it also depends on the variety too. Camaldensis or pauciflora look beautiful with their gnarly thick bases in the wild tho.

Angophoras are good if you want thick based material. They naturally will thicken up quickly in pots too.

[Sno]

Good to see You haven’t put on a lot of taper Sno. Must be the cool climate keeping you fit.

I’ve lost quite a few Eucs over my time from letting them grow deep in the ground and then cutting the tap roots,

Thanks ,but, I think I am putting more girth on than most of my trees .


I think with Eucs you have to let them run a bit on top and the roots too if you want them to thicken .
Here is one that from memory is about the same age as the first one . This one was grown from the start in a garden sieve on a gravel bed .Its roots untouched except for the roots that escaped into the gravel bed , which were chopped off once a year when it was taken off the gravel bed for winter . Interestingly the roots fused in the sieve .

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This is its first year out of a sieve I reduced the roots by about half .

[Kevin]

I think with Eucs you have to let them run a bit on top and the roots too if you want them to thicken .
Here is one that from memory is about the same age as the first one . This one was grown from the start in a garden sieve on a gravel bed .Its roots untouched except for the roots that escaped into the gravel bed , which were chopped off once a year when it was taken off the gravel bed for winter . Interestingly the roots fused in the sieve .

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This is its first year out of a sieve I reduced the roots by about half .

Hello Sno,

Thanks for posting the second comparison info and photo.

Very interesting that you severe the Euc's roots just prior to a freezing winter. Obviously and surprisingly the tree hasn't minded this treatment.

Have I interpreted this correctly? Maybe the tree goes into a hothouse, which would nullify the cold conditions?

Thanks,

Kevin

[Sno]

Hi Kevin . This tree has been outside all its life , although in winter I put it in a place out of the wind and in the sunniest spot I can find , it gets down to -10 or so here ( although the last few years it’s been a couple of degrees warmer ) . I start to remove the stuff I am growing on gravel beds during autumn and if I think the top is too heavy I give it a trim to a growing point and try to leave as much growth as I think it can support . I can have frosts from now on ( not this weekend ) just light ones -1 or -2 s which help to shut down the trees.

[Stevie_B]

Hi Sno,
What happened to the tap root if you are growing it in a container but also in the ground? I imagine it won’t go through the sieve etc, but does it have any impact on the growth etc?
Thanks,
Steve

[Sno]

Hi Steve . I would have bought these as tubestock originally. ,so the tap root would have been cut at the beginning . They soon grow lots of feeder roots in sieves or pots that have heaps of drainage. That is what escapes into the gravel beds . You can tell when the roots have escaped because the tree starts pushing growth . By having just the feeder roots may be why it doesn’t affect the tree when I lift and cut off all the escapees in the autumn.
By cutting off the tap root it may slow the growing down a bit , but one day you are going to have to remove the tap root anyway . The Eucs that I have dug don’t have a ‘tap ‘ root but more like 3 or 4 anchor roots . The trick then is to get feeder roots growing from those ‘anchor ‘ roots closer to the trunk .

[Stevie_B]

I see now. I guess the tree doesn’t care how it’s rooted, so long as it’s stable and secure. Hence the feeder roots working towards that goal.
Thanks Sno.